The new editor of Los Angeles Times, James OShea who took over after the previous editor, Dean Baquet, was ousted (along with the publisher) for refusing to make substantial newsroom cuts has announced a restructuring of the newsroom aimed at focusing the paper more on breaking news online, and using its resources better in terms of integration between paper and Web, something a lot of newspapers are currently struggling with.
Among other things, he announced an editor for innovation and a series of newsroom courses in writing and filing for the web. According to the L.A. Times story on it (which must have been fun to write), OShea told an auditorium full of reporters and editors that the Times had been complacent because it was doing fairly well financially, but that it couldnt rest on its laurels. He also said that an internal report found:
a lack of assertive leadership and adequate focus on the website.
understaffing.
creaky technology.
failure to integrate the newspapers large news staff into operations at the web.
My favourite quote from the report: To put it bluntly, as a news organization, we are not web-savvy. If anything, we are web-stupid." More on the topic from Greg Sterling at Screenwerk and at Editor & Publisher, which got comments from L.A. staffers, as well as PaidContent and online veteran Steve Yelvington.
Technorati Tags: integration media2.0 newspapers onlinehttp://mathewingram.com/media/2007/01/25/la-times-...